30% The Giver. 18% Brave New World. 2% Ape and Essence. 50% Minority Report ripoff

Rating: 4/10 (24 July 2005)

When I first saw a preview for this movie a few months ago, I thought it looked great, despite my skepticism of Michael Bay's direction which has led to atrocities in the past. However, I realized that Jerry Bruckheimer was not attached to the project. This led me to think maybe Michael Bay would come out of his shell and prove himself to be a great director with multiple skills... I was wrong. This movie is a rehash of many great stories about future dystopias stuck together to form the basis for yet another Michael Bay action movie. The first part of the movie is intriguing in its implications and opens up a million possibilities for allegory and a very interesting plot that uses the present controversy of cloning and human rights, totalitarianism, etc. and places them into a future environment for an objective and relevant study. Not to mention the characters had a lot of potential for development. I was let down on all these fronts as all the ingenuity of the first few scenes dissolved into a Minority Report inspired chase film, where plot and story development are replaced with car and futuristic flying motorcycle chases, along with a couple neat shootouts with strange grappling hook guns.
Now this film did have some memorable moments. The most effective is Michael Clark Duncan's scene in which he wakes up in the operating room to realize he is not going to the island. His brilliant acting combined with some uncharacteristically effective cinematography made me tremble in fear while bringing me close to tears. Unfortunately this is the high point. What else to say of this film? The action scenes are as solid as one would expect from a Michael Bay film, but for all i'm concerned, he just took clips from his other films and edited them together slightly differently. He has his action formula so tight that it has looked the same since Bad Boys. I do give him credit for being as minimal as possible with CGI as this sort of movie would allow. Impressive set pieces and practical effects give this film a greater look of reality than, say, Pearl Harbor. Other than that, the dream subplot of the film is lame and cliché, as is the end of the film. Steve Buscemi was wasted. Scarlett Johanssen is beautiful and slightly intense. Ewan McGregor is playing his role so effortlessly, using his typical style of acting that he employs in films he obviously does not have any passion for besides his pay check. He could have been switched with Jude Law doing the same thing and no one would be the smarter. When will there be another film the quality of Trainspotting that will allow Ewan to remind us that he is a brilliant actor and has been riding the A-list due to his extraordinary talent, and not just his Russel Crowe-Lite looks? Not in a Bay film, I'll tell you that much.